


Gilded Silver

by neosaiyanangel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drinking, F/M, Morning After, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neosaiyanangel/pseuds/neosaiyanangel
Summary: Draco wakes up after a night spent drinking Muggle ‘whiskeys’ at a Potter celebration to find he’s unexpectedly soul bonded with his bedmate. While he recognizes the inevitability of the situation, she simply can’t, or won’t.What can a simple Mudblood do that his family failed at? Draco doesn’t know, but he’s interested in finding out.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51
Collections: Writing Rainbow Silver





	Gilded Silver

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NekoMida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoMida/gifts).



> I might continue this, idk. It feels like there’s more to the story than this.

He stirred. His thoughts were slightly disconnected. Something was...strange?

He’d been at a party. A celebratory party for that chump Potter. He hadn’t known exactly why he’d been invited, but it was a party he wouldn’t have wanted to miss. Even with the subject. So what if Potter had made it into the Ministry of Magic as a full-fledged Auror? It wasn’t as if it was hard.

He’d drank and cavorted about as someone of his stature should. Then that Granger girl...no, not a girl. Not anymore. She’d been breathtaking, for a Mudblood. She had challenged him on something technical with his generosity towards certain students of Pureblood character. They’d argued back and forth. They drank more…?

It was a blur at that point. He would’ve suspected that someone slipped something into the drinks. Butterbeer and Muggle drinks called ‘whiskeys’ shouldn’t have this kind of effect on someone. Not that he was an expert on Muggle items.

Draco looked around, then paused as he caught sight of his arm. Specifically, his wrist.

His heart froze as he took in the pattern. The very specific pattern that was a curse upon his family.

Then he caught sight of another thing that destroyed what was left of his heart: a tuft of messy brown hair that was familiar even to a blind man.

“Oh...damn.”

Those words seemed to rouse Hermione awake. She grumbled, rolling about in his unicorn-hair sheets. A spike of annoyance at his pristine sheets being dirtied by a Mudblood flitted through him before he squashed it. He needed to have her cooperation in this. It wouldn’t do to make her angry at him.

Still, he couldn’t stop himself from roughly shaking her shoulder.

She mumbled louder before she propped herself up on her elbows. “It feels like something died in my mouth.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure many things have done that. In your hair, too,” Draco sniped.

Hermione seemed to do a double-take. “ _ Draco _ ?!”

“Who else would it be? That dead-brained poor wizard’s pureblood Weasley?” Draco almost felt bad for that low blow. It was common knowledge to those with an ear to society that her and Ronald’s romance had fallen apart after the first year. He couldn’t resist the smirk.

Hermione’s face heated up. “He isn’t braindead! Just...not ambitious.”

“Like you.” Goodness, this was fun.

“No. Not like me.” Things were quiet for a moment. Hermione began fussing with the bed, looking around. “Where are my cloth-” She cut off. Then, she looked accusingly at Draco, arm raised. “What is this? Did you give me a tattoo while I was asleep?”

“That is the family curse,” Draco said more steadily than he felt.

“The family curse?” Hermione scoffed. “What, is it a voodoo curse?”

“What kind of charlatans do you take my family for?!” he growled. “We are  _ far _ superior to those dirty-” Draco cut himself off, though he was still breathing heavily through his nose. More evenly, he said, “It is a soul mark.”

“A soul mark?” Hermione stared. “Like a soul mark-soul mark?!”

“What other kinds of soul marks are there?”

“I don’t know...like a Horcrux?”

“This may as well be a Horcrux,” Draco grumbled, shaking his head.

“I haven’t read up on this sort of thing,” Hermione admitted. “I don’t know what to expect.”

“Oh ho! Surprising! The egghead Granger, not knowing something?” Draco laughed.

“Why don’t you fill me in then?” Hermione snapped.

“Oh, I will do so. Then I expect we’ll have to figure  _ something  _ out.” Draco shook his head. “Soul marks... _ this _ is why us Malfoys arrange our marriages and forgo romance!”

“I thought it was because you couldn’t  _ get _ anyone to fall in love with you,” Hermione said snippily.

Instead of getting angry, Draco simply smirked wider. There was a strange sense of peace now. He could appreciate her wit now that he  _ knew _ …

“It’s because when we find a soul that’s compatible, we...well…” He rubbed his soul mark. “When we fornicate with a compatible soul, a bond is formed. We take a piece of their soul, they give us a piece of theirs.”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed. “So it  _ is _ like a Horcrux.”

“We will both die at the same time due to this bond,” Draco explained. “That was part of why, why the sex was amazing.”

“As far as  _ you’re _ aware,” Hermione emphasized. “You’ve never had sex before.”

“I have access to-” Draco cut himself off heatedly. Defending himself from her blatantly inappropriate accusation was a problem beneath him. Instead, he said, “No matter what you try to imply or claim, I know the truth. And the truth of the matter is…” He scooted over until he was face-to-face with her. “It was the best sex either of us has ever had. That is no boast. That is the truth.”

Hermione puckered her lips. “I  _ will _ admit, it was rather good.”

Draco was smirking again. “Better than Weasley?”

“I, I mean…” She shook her head. “What do we do about this?”

“The soul bond?” Draco shrugged. “I have no idea.”

She snorted. “Real helpful.”

“Us Malfoys have managed to avoid another accidental soul bond for the last eight hundred years,” Draco said. “We knew we were susceptible and made up for this weakness with preemptive strikes of arranged marriages. But now…” He chewed his lip. “Now I’m bonded to a Mudblood. Shame isn’t even  _ close _ to the word I would use for this.”

“Too weak?”

“Too strong, actually.” He tapped his head. “Can’t you feel it? The bond is working on us even as we speak. I find you far less detestable now than I did last night. I imagine over the next week we’ll be inseparable.”

“How do we stop it?!”

“We don’t. There  _ is _ no stopping it. We…” Draco emphasized, “are  _ trapped _ .”

“Soon we won’t have a choice? Unbelievable.” Hermione settled her head into her hands. “Of all the things I thought would claim me, I never imagined a soul bond with  _ you _ as being one of them.”

“As if I had any similar thoughts.” Draco scratched his chin, thinking. “You know…”

“Hm?” Hermione looked at him.

“We’re doomed as it is. Why not enjoy it?” Draco gave Hermione a salacious grin. “Why not have a little fun before giving in to the curse?”

“Are you  _ serious _ ?!” Hermione hissed, “You want to  _ mess around _ when our very  _ souls _ are at stake?”

“There’s no point in fighting it. It’s like trying not to breathe.” Draco shrugged. “If you don’t want to, all I have to do is wait. We’ll be brought together at the end anyway.”

“Aren’t you afraid of the scandal? Pureblooded Draco Malfoy, laying with a Mudblood?”

“It’s  _ pointless _ now. My family has researched every which way we could to try and cure this curse. Any scandal involving a Mudblood is moot compared to the scandal of a realized soul mark.” Draco sighed. “Soon enough it won’t even matter. We’ll be magically compelled to be together.”

“I…” Hermione huffed. “How did it come to this?”

“I have no idea.” He wasn’t sure if it was age or what, but he felt more mellowed towards Hermione than he did before.

“ _ I _ will research a way to save us from these soul marks,” Hermione said snootily.

“Oh yes, I’m certain that a raggedy Mudblood will succeed where my family’s infinite resources failed,” Draco deadpanned.

“Those ‘infinite resources’ weren’t  _ me _ ,” Hermione countered.

Draco’s heart skipped a little at that note. The urge to cover his interest in a Mudblood was swiftly vanishing, likely due to the effect of the soul mark. He did secretly fancy Hermione in the charming backwards country girl sort of way. It was now pointless to cover it.

“I can give you our information. All the information we’ve gathered.” Draco was impressed, even more than he normally was. There was almost something admirable about the self-assured confidence Hermione had, even with her lack of pedigree.

“That’s a good start.” Hermione finally found her clothes. She hastily began dressing herself. “I’ll look at what your family has gathered…”

“You are…” Draco shook his head.

“I am…?”

“Nevermind.” He let the annoyed little snippets in his head override his fascination. “I suppose we’ll see what you can turn up.”

“Oh yes we will.”


End file.
